Yandere: Heartbroken
by SebastianGirl1994
Summary: This is a FanFiction based on Yandere Simulator. In Academi Highschool, there is one girl simply known as Yandere, who adores Senpai. Thing is, he has other admirers, one being Yukiji. Yukiji is suspicious of Yandere and wonders what her plans are for Senpai and her friends. Will Yandere find out her rival is Yukiji before Friday [8th April 2016] or will she be forever heartbroken?
1. Monday 4th April 2016

**~ Monday 4th April 2016 ~**

I lifted my school satchel up, grabbed a slice of toast and kissed my father on the forehead before running out to school. My phone buzzed as I rounded the corner of my street, for me to see a message from Luka. She was waiting for me with Hatsune. I texted a quick reply and ran faster, wishing I had worn my school shoes and not my boots today. I adjusted my stockings before I ran into someone, and we both fell to the pavement.

"Ow," I mumbled as I rubbed my now sore head.

"Are you alright, Yukiji?" a male voice asked and I looked up to see Senpai standing, his hand extended out towards me, "take my hand."

I nodded and took it, and it felt so warm in mine. Did he feel the electricity? Could he hear my heart racing? He smiled at me and I smiled back, rather awkwardly before we split ways and I moved off to find Luka. She was by the gate of the school, her phone posed to ring me. Her golden hair was tied in a lopsided ponytail on her left hand side. She looked up at Hatsune's wave and they smiled to me. Hatsune's hair was tied into two turquoise pigtails today, no ribbons decorated them as they had last Friday.

"Sorry," I replied before bowing, "Dad had to remind me it wasn't a holiday."

"Did you fall, Yu-chan?" Hatsune asked and I saw the grazes on my hands.

"Yeah," I mumbled as we walked into school.

I looked around, deciding that something was different. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom and their faint pink petals swayed in the breeze. No, that wasn't what was different. I looked to my left and spotted a few odd objects. I departed from Hatsune and Luka to investigate, feeling someone's eyes on me as I got closer. There was a mop and a bucket with cold water, slightly soapy as if to get rid of a stain. Would a janitor leave that here? Beside it was an incinerator and I opened it to look in, nothing to mark it had been used before. Was this for the art club? Why was it this far away from their club room? And lying in a pretty pile beside it was a new uniform, a female's uniform. It was clean of any dirt and I wondered what was going on. Maybe I could ask one of the teachers about it. I shrugged and decided to walk into school.

Yandere-chan was already there, her eyes searching for someone. Was it me, or was she twitching a lot these days? She glared at me, as if I had done something wrong before I turned away. She was an odd-ball, and she didn't seem to fit in anywhere. I looked over my shoulder once more to see her walking behind Senpai, her eyes glued to her hands. Did she have a crush on him? She only seemed to act that way with him. I walked to my locker to retrieve my shoes, and while my friends were distracted, I stuck a small note in Senpai's locker before catching up with the others. It was the only way I could think of confessing my feelings to him.

Yeah, I had lied to my friends. My dad didn't have to remind me it wasn't a holiday, I had been busy writing that love note, making sure it sounded right. I didn't want to come off too clingy and desperate, but also not distant and hostile. I was going to put letters in his locker all week and then Thursday…I would ask him to meet me outside on Friday, under the cherry blossoms so I could tell him how I felt. Hopefully, he would accept it, or if he couldn't, we could still be friends. I just wanted to test the waters…and fingers crossed it worked out for me.

I put on my shoes and locked my locker before going to the small gathering by the stairs. All of my friends and a few classmates were talking about their weekends. I looked to my right to see a few of the guys were talking about trading cards while Senpai went to his locker. I watched for a moment before he saw my note and took it out, unfolded it and read it. Yandere was leaning against some of the lockers as he read the note, smiled and put it in his shoes before locking the locker. That had to be a good reaction; that he was smiling and wished to keep the note. Hatsune tapped my arm and I was pulled back to my reality, the one with girls and their oddly coloured hair.

Kira was experimenting with hair dye, and had managed to dye it a dark blue this week. It had been dark, like nearly black the last time I had seen her. I think she had mentioned her reasoning, I just couldn't remember it.

"I got a text from Hiro this morning," Kira said as she passed her phone around our group, "he's on his way to Tokyo for a lacrosse tournament."

"That's amazing!" Megumi replied, her short green pigtails shook with her enthusiasm, "but why the long face?"

"What if he becomes really famous…and doesn't want to be with me anymore?" Kira asked as she got back her phone, "what if I'm not good enough?"

"Kira, seriously?" Megumi asked, "he'd be a fool to drop you because of some tournament. You'll see, I bet you when he comes back on Friday, you'll just know. You've been together for too long for some stupid tournament to break you apart!"

"You need some more confidence," Meiko chirped in, flattening her already flat red hair, "do you want to have a sleepover before he comes back? We can do make-up and your hair!"

"We?" Kira asked.

"Yeah!" Megumi replied as Meiko took her side, "Teto could do your make-up while Gumi and I mess with your hair. You won't recognise yourself afterwards!"

"And he'll be so blown away by your hotness that he'll never leave you," Meiko finished.

"Okay, Thursday evening at six?" Kira asked and that started them talking about the sleepover. However, Teto was pulling on her hair, making them bounce up and reminded me of tornados in the movies. Had that been her intent? The purple made them seem crazy, and yet they matched her personality to a T. She looked to me and pointed to her hair, waiting for an opportunity to speak. Once the window opened, she spoke in a rush.

"These don't look like tornados, do they?" Teto asked, looking anxious for our replies.

"It looks like you found a curling wand," I replied and she smiled, "I could make them curlier, if you want?"

"Sure! This weekend?" and I nodded.

I decided to take another look around. Senpai was by his friends but I couldn't hear what they were saying. Was he telling them about the note? At the thought of that, I felt myself blush before I spotted Yandere leaning against the closest wall to Senpai. She reminded me of a lion stalking a gazelle. What did she want with Senpai? However, when she saw me looking, she looked to our group longingly. Was there something she wanted from us? She detached herself from the wall and walked to our group before she stopped behind Megumi and put her hand on her shoulder. Megumi turned around, her hair slapping her in the face before she raised a hand to fix the problem. Yandere watched this with mild interest, as in with a deadpan expression that made my skin crawl.

She did this very morning before class, just walked up to us and talked to us individually. It was never to take part in social events, such as Kira's makeover. It was always the same thing, a compliment about our appearance. I wasn't sure if the others noticed that it seemed so false, so forced by her. As if talking to us took effort. That was why she seemed so odd to me, as if something was wrong.

She was the only girl in our class to make me feel this uneasy, and as Class Rep, I didn't like it. I wanted teachers and students alike to want to come up to me and talk. I wanted them to feel comfortable when they did. But with Yandere, it felt like she was acting out a role given to her for a play. The only problem was I wasn't falling for it. So I watched from a distance, making sure no harm came to my friends.

"I just thought I'd tell you, you look lovely today," Yandere said softly to Gumi.

"You really think so?" Megumi replied, "thanks."

That was all she ever said to us, there was no sense of carrying on a conversation. It didn't seem normal to me, that one girl's wish was to compliment us every day and then say goodbye before doing the next day. She walked around our group, saying the same line over and over again, not changing it. The others didn't seem to notice or care, except for me. When she reached me, I turned my back on her. Her hand grazed my shoulder as I walked to the stairs. I wasn't interested in a forced compliment, it was like a false apology. I looked to my watch as the bell rung, Hatsune took my left as Luka took my right. The others took the second stairway as Yandere looked at me, confusion on her face. I wasn't a NPC in this school, and I knew when something was wrong.

"Class is about to start, Yandere, and Ms Kanade will be annoyed if we're late," I said before going to class, taking the stairs two at a time with Luka running to catch up with me.

I took my seat as Yandere took the one nearest the windows, her eyes focused on it, as if looking at her own reflection. But then I saw her eyes follow the reflection of Senpai as he walked into the room and towards his friends Aki and his twin brother Akira. They had gathered near the front of the class, and glancing through a new manga I hadn't heard of. From this distance, I couldn't make out the title either, not that I was bothered with manga. I looked up at the twins and smiled when I remembered them introducing themselves to me a few months ago. They told me the story of their odd hair colours and their names, which managed to make me laugh. Their parents had wanted to remember their names, and instead of calling both the brothers Aki, had added "ra" to the end of one of the names. However, the brothers had taken it into their own hands to remind their parents, and Aki had green hair while Akira had red hair.

"Do you want help with Teto's hair?" Luka asked as she put her phone away in her desk, "I got a new curling wand for my birthday last month."

"Sure," I replied and we waited for Ms Kanade to enter the room. I put my bag by my right side and took out a notebook. It was always the Class Rep's job to be prepared. It may have been homeroom, but that could mean a meeting or upcoming trips for our class 3-2. I needed to be aware of all of it and take good notes so someone who was out could also know what had happened. In this year, we only seemed to have homeroom once a week and always on a Monday.

Our teacher walked in and stood at the top of the room, waiting for everyone to take their seats. Meiko and Teto went to class 3-1 with a few of the other boys, which they always gushed about. What was so special about being a small minority in a class of boys? Their class shared labs with us, so we were often paired together. Teto was the nurse's aid for her class as a girl named Michiru had been ours. That was until she left the school to go to Tokyo. Her father had changed jobs and her family had to leave our small town to be with him. Maybe I should send her a letter and ask how Tokyo was…

Our teacher was a woman named Ms Kanade, a transfer from some other school. She was our class tutor as well as our teacher for most of our subjects. Her partner, and fiancé, Mr Watari was our physical education teacher. As far as I knew, the pair had arrived at the same time from different schools a few years ago. Mr W was nice so long as you showed up and did the work he requested. Ms K was nice as well, so long as you had her homework done. I looked up at her and wondered why she came across almost…dangerous. She was a nice woman, took no shit and valued loyalty from her students. Her brown hair was in a ponytail and she wore her engagement ring like a small badge of honour. She had decided to wear comfortable slacks and a white blouse, as she put her arms on the desk and smiled at us.

Homeroom began as it always did with Ms Kanade taking our role and asking us how our weekend was. She then told us about an assignment she wanted done for Friday, on the dissection of frogs. But that required a lab for us to complete that experiment. She turned her brown eyes towards me and gave me a cheerful smile.

"Class Rep, please speak to Mr Aido about using the science lab for biology today? When you return with the reply, we'll call homeroom to an end."

I got up and left to go downstairs. The staff room was beside the nurse's station so I walked towards it, wondering if I had ruined my chance with Senpai once more. Had I come across as pushy? I guess I had been so distracted that I walked into the nurse's office instead of the staff room. The young woman was at her desk, rummaging through the drawers like a desperate person. She was mumbling so I walked closer to find out why.

"Where did it go? Why did I leave it out for someone to take?" she asked herself over and over again.

"Miss, is something the matter?" I asked and she looked to me, her eyes reminded me of a deer in headlights.

"I left a needle and tranquilser out for easy access but the pair seem to be missing…I can't understand it," and she scratched her head, "maybe I put them in the cabinet…?"

I watched as she went searching for the drug and took it as my escape to find Mr Aido. He was sitting at his desk in the staff room, talking to Mr Watari and Ms Lawson. Lawson was an exchange teacher for us and we had sent Mrs Tachibana to America for a few months. I knocked on the door and walked into the room, closing it behind me. The teachers looked to me as I walked up to Mr Aido. He had a thick head of black hair that he tied back in a ponytail. His eyes were big and blue, and Megumi said they had a way of "melting you" if you looked too long.

"Hello Mr Aido," I said with a smile, "Ms Kanade wants to know if the science lab is available for our biology class today?"

He nodded and pulled a small book out from under his desk. He flipped through it before he stopped on the lab's page. It was really booked, that was clear from all of his scratch marks on it. He ran his finger down a column before tapping on one slot in particular.

"It is available after lunch. Will I put Ms Kanade's class down for its use?" and I nodded, "I'll make sure nothing is taken of course. Heard the nurse lost some supplies this morning."

"Yeah, a needle and a tranquilser," I stated and he looked worried.

"What would someone want with that?" he asked as he scratched class 3-2/3-1 down for the lab.

"Thank you," I bowed and left the room to go back to class.

I felt the same way as Mr Aido. What would someone want with those specific things? I stopped in the corridor and looked at the spot Yandere had been earlier, almost as if she had been stalking Senpai. This wasn't the first odd thing to happen, and when I really thought about it, it seemed that Yandere was right in the middle of it. Her odd compliments that seemed so false, her worried expression when I told her to go to class. She was planning something that felt wrong to me, and as Class Rep, I would get to the bottom of this.

As I walked back to class, I tried to determine what had struck me as odd about Yandere recently. She had been forcing herself to talk to us, as well as twitching a lot. Last Friday, she had been twitching like a madman and walked over to Senpai before calming down. What was he to her? It made me feel anxious when I thought about her behaviour. What was she planning? Did she take the drugs and the needle?

I walked back into class and told Ms Kanade that we were booked in the lab for after lunch. She thanked me and began teaching us about psychology. It was always interesting to find out how a person thought. Maybe it would help me decipher Yandere. She had an obsession over Senpai; that would be obvious to anyone. It had been clear long before she yelled at a girl behind the gym for talking to him. Wait…hadn't that been Michiru? Maybe she hadn't left because her dad got a better job. Maybe she left because Yandere threatened her. I looked over at her and felt shivers run up my spine. She looked the type that should she say, "I'll kill you," that she'd actually do it. I decided to force my attention to follow class, or I could lose my sanity obsessing over Yandere…

The bell rung and I put away my handwriting copy. I was getting better at cursive writing, much to my own amazement. As I put my copy away, I realised I hadn't considered talking to one of my friends about my theory. I couldn't really tell a teacher my suspicions right now, considering I had no proof to back them up. Luka and Hatsune put their desks together and picked at their lunch while I looked at Yandere, until she stood and left the room.

"Do you think Yandere has changed recently?" I asked Hatsune.

"No, if anything, she seems to be getting more confidence. I want to be her friend now," Hatsune replied and Luka nodded in reply, "a lot of the girls were surprised she even came up to talk to us. But if she's willing to make the effort, we should try as well. I mean, what's the harm?"

I shrugged and mumbled something about my locker as I walked down to the hall. I was retrieving my lunch, when I saw Yandere. Her skirt was up to expose a pair of red underwear. Attached to the lace edging, was a capped needle and a small vial of clear liquid. The label was unclear from here so I walked closer and hid behind the lockers. I made sure to push myself silently against their doors to listen to her, in case she spoke. I was lucky.

"Those bitches want to take him away from me," she whispered as she put her prizes in her locker, "I'll make them understand he's mine. What's one less rival? And some bitch wrote him a love note! I'll have to find her before she talks to him…or he'll never be mine…I think I'd be heartbroken…"

Her locker closed and I watched as she walked back up the stairs and to class. I waited a few more minutes before going to her locker, pulled on the small padlock and sighed. She had the drugs…and she didn't like us. Then why was she trying to be friendly? Was she hoping someone knew who the rival was? I hadn't told anyone, so it was me against her. I had to make sure that she had the tranquilser, but her locker was blocked and I knew she kept the key for it around her wrist on a hot pink bracelet. There was no way I was getting into it without first learning how to pick a lock. That could took a few weeks as Academi Highschool didn't teach that sort of thing…or I could just break it? No, I didn't want Yandere to know I really suspected her.

I gave up on the lock and walked back to class to spend the rest of lunch with my friends, ate my lunch and pondered over what Yandere had said. During lunch, Yandere sat on her own and looked out the window at the cherry blossoms before the bell went and we put our things away to go to biology. I took my seat near the front with Hatsune as my partner. Luka worked with Gackpo most days when he was in. And when I was out, Hatsune worked with Kaito. They all looked like cute couples really. Maybe I could suggest it to them?

Yandere was already in class and near Kira, who was waiting for a report from Hiro. I could hear her complimenting Yandere who pulled nervously on her hair. Was it so uncommon for her to be complimented? Was her complimenting, a way for her to reach out to us? It didn't take away from her statement, and I felt sick to my stomach. Something didn't seem right to me.

The sick feeling didn't ease and I began to feel faint. I clutched my desk tight and put my head down on the table to rest it. My sister had come home with something last week…please tell me I didn't have it! When I glanced up, everything seemed to be playing like a video. I was a spectator and not actually living my life. I watched as Hatsune picked up her frog to make it tap dance while Kaito electroshocked his and made himself jump when its leg twitched. Luka was leaning on Gackpo as he did the dissection. Hatsune was trying to get my attention but when I did look to her, I was falling.

The floor winded me when I made contact, but someone had noticed and moved to catch my head before I could do some serious damage. A crowd gathered around me but they looked like shadow puppets, no colour to distinguish them. Where was I? Oh that's right, I was in biology.

"Hey!" a voice called out and I looked around until I saw Meiko, her red hair coming into focus, "Yukiji, are you alright?"

"Whose the nurse's aid?" Megumi asked and no one put up their hand, "did no one replace Michiru?"

I was lifted up by someone and once I was standing, they wrapped one arm around my waist and took one of my arms to wrap around their neck. I looked to see who was helping me, to see Ms Kanade was looking at the class.

"Mr Aido will talk you all through the dissection!" she snapped, "Kaito, catch Yukiji's other side!"

Kaito lifted me up and I was brought slowly out of the room, and they said something about me feeling faint around blood. They must think that was why I felt like this. They took the stairs carefully and brought me to the nurse's office. I saw the nurse vaguely, like the others until I focused. She was just another shadow puppet.

"Put her down on the bed," the nurse said as I was moved there.

Once I sitting down, my tie was undone and the top two buttons of my school blouse pulled free. My shoes were taken off and I was straightened on the bed. Kaito must have left as the nurse took my temperature. A damp cloth was put over my head as she tucked me in. She smiled at me as I closed my eyes to sleep.

"Ms Kanade has just gone to call your dad to collect you, Yukiji. You won't be in for the rest of the week!" the nurse stated.

"Yandere…my friends…I can't…" I mumbled before sleep captured me and pulled me under.

 _In my dream, I was walking to school. I was alone as I entered the property. The cherry blossoms were in bloom and I checked my watch. I was late for class. I ran in, holding my satchel close to my side as I entered the school. The bell was ringing like an alarm, and didn't seem to want to finish. I stepped further in until I heard an odd sound under my boot, like a squelching sound. I looked down to see blood, lots of blood. I followed it until I saw where my group liked to talk before going to class._

 _In the centre were bodies, dozens of them. I saw Ms Kanade, Mr Aido, Mr Watari and all my friends. In their centre was Yandere, her school uniform covered in blood and a katana in her right hand. She was laughing hysterically before she looked to me. Her smile was too insane to be contagious. I dropped my bag and screamed before running away from her. I heard her follow me, it made my heart race. She was going to kill me._

 _"Come here, Yukiji, I just want to make you understand something…" she said and it sounded so close to me._

 _I screamed for help but no one seemed to notice before I was tackled to the floor. Yandere turned me over so I was looking up at her. She held the handle of the katana in one hand and the blade in another before pressing it against my throat. She pressed a little harder until it bit my skin and warm blood dripped down my neck, leaving a warm trail for her eyes to follow._

 _"Senpai is MINE!" she snapped before killing me…_

I launched myself up and screamed, clutching my throat and searched for the cut. Yandere had killed me, she had killed me. A door opened and someone wrapped their arms around me, holding me close as I sobbed into their shoulder. A hand rubbed my back to comfort me as I tried to understand what the hell had just happened.

"It's alright, Yu-chan, it was only a nightmare," my sister Mariya said softly to me, "you've got my fever from last week."

"Where am I?" I asked as the shadows pulled away and I saw my wardrobe and my desk.

"Dad collected you and asked me to come home to take care of you. It's alright, Yu-chan, it was only a nightmare. What happened in your dream?"

I shrugged my shoulders, knowing Mariya wouldn't understand. I couldn't understand it myself. Yandere had killed me…because I had taken Senpai from her? I needed to go to school tomorrow, I had a bad feeling about her. If I wasn't there…what would she do to my friends? I was going to find out if she took the medication as well, even if I had to pick the lock.


	2. Tuesday 5th April 2016

**~ Tuesday 5th April 2016 ~**

My alarm went off at 6:30 a.m., and without really thinking about it, I got ready for school. I guess, everything looked rosier to me, and when I looked in the mirror, my uniform was immaculate and my make-up looked natural. I walked past four mirrors that showed my face and the full length mirror near the hall door. My sister and dad were out, my dad gone to work and my sister had stepped out for something else. I stuck a packed lunch into my bag before hoisting it over my shoulder.

I left my house, without breakfast as I wasn't hungry. I took the long walk to school as it was the most scenic and stopped when I reached the gate of the school. I dropped my bag to my side, finding it easier to hold then. I spotted Luka and waved to her, and my hand looked fuzzy to me. Luka stared at me as I walked over to her, Hatsune also making her way to us.

"Yu-chan?" Luka asked as she touched the end of my perfect braid, "what happened to your face?"

"What do you mean? Is it the new foundation I bought?" I asked her.

"Yukiji…you look like a clown that fell and landed into a hedge for that hedge to then beat him up…I thought you were out for the rest of the week anyway?"

"I had to come in…" I mumbled before moving away from them, not wanting them to know I was suspicious of Yandere.

Hatsune reached forward and caught my arm, before dragging me at speed to the gym. Luka followed behind her, opening her bag before she locked the door. Hatsune sat me down and leaned towards me.

"Do you have wipes?" Hatsune asked Luka who nodded.

My make-up was removed and it felt like my skin had been rubbed off with sandpaper. Luka went to redo it, giving me a little colour in my cheeks while Hatsune redid my hair in a low ponytail. My uniform was adjusted and then I was made to stand.

"Let's go see the others…I guess," Hatsune whispered as they brought me into the school.

The lockers appeared like statues, with odd things hanging out of their stomachs…wait no, those were the locks. I put my hand to my head, wondering if I was hallucinating again. I stopped at my locker to switch shoes and stick my lunch in. I could collect it at lunch time. Kira and Megumi turned to welcome Hatsune and Luka, before looking surprisingly at me.

"Yukiji…what are you doing in here?" Meiko asked softly.

"I'm here for class," I replied simply as I took my spot between Hatsune and Megumi.

No one else really talked, not sure what to do with me there. I looked around, spotting Senpai and hoping I looked decent. Had he seen me yesterday? I really hoped he hadn't seen me fall…oh crap, he was coming over here!

Senpai stopped a foot from me, Aki and Akira nearby with smiles on their faces. Senpai looked worried, as if he wasn't sure what to do.

"Yukiji…can we talk for a minute…alone?" he asked and I felt my heart stop for a minute.

"Yeah…yeah, sure," I answered and followed after him.

"Senpai!" Megumi called out and we both looked back at her, "Yukiji has a bit of a cold…"

"Okay Gumi-chan," he replied and she blushed before returning to our group.

I let him lead the way, towards our classroom. I followed behind, noticing that Aki and Akira guarded the doorway. Were they expecting something to happen? I gulped as I stepped in, following after Senpai. He was near my desk, his hand tracing shapes in the wooden surface.

My heart was racing so fast, it felt like a hummingbird's. Could he hear it? Could he see how nervous he made me? I clenched my hands tight, not sure what he was going to say. Would he know it was me who wrote that note for him? Oh God, I wasn't ready to tell him how I felt! Would he think I was some lovestruck teenager? Would he not want anything to do with me?

"Yukiji…I'm glad you came in today," Senpai said as he raised his head to look at me, his dark eyes scorching me.

"Em…I had to come in," I muttered pathetically.

"I had something I wanted to ask you," he said, a smile on his lips that made my heart race faster.

"What is it?" I asked, my voice so breathy that I wasn't sure he had heard me.

"I could only really ask you," he replied, "I wanted to ask you…do you know what Ms Kanade wanted with the geography assignment?"

I must have looked confused, because believe me, I was. I had thought he was going to confess his feelings for me…and instead he was asking me about geography?! Seriously?! My heart slowed down a little as I walked to my desk, with Senpai's hand touching my hip twice. I must have been unsteady…

"Be careful there," he said and I smiled at him, hoping to God I remembered to brush my teeth.

His answering smile told me I had. I retrieved my geography book and flipped it open to the chapter concerning volcanos and their formation.

"She wants us to write an easy about volcanos," I replied and he nodded, "and it can't be more than 1000 words."

"Thanks Yukiji," he said as he touched the book, "this really helped."

I nodded, not trusting my voice anymore. He left to talk to his friends and I sunk down into my desk. I put my head in my hands, wondering what had gotten into me. Had I really thought he was going to confess his feelings to me?

I wasn't sure how long I sat there before Ms Kanade walked in, wearing a new citrus perfume. I glanced up to see her brown hair was around her shoulders, covering the straps of a yellow summer dress. She was smiling to herself as she turned to the board and started writing out work for class, focusing on the experiment we did yesterday.

She finished a few moments later, a diagram made up and some words scribbled into the sides. She then looked out at the class, obviously waiting for people to enter, when her eyes rested on me.

"Yukiji?" she asked before making her way to me, "I told your father you were unwell."

"I had to come in…" I muttered, "now I wish I hadn't."

"Are you still feeling unwell? I'll bring you to the nurse and ring your father if you want," she said as dropped to her hunches to rest her arms on my desk, a smile on her face.

"It's not that," I mumbled as I raised my head to look at her, "boys are just idiots."

"They are," she replied as she reached forward to tuck a strange of loose hair behind my ear, "but don't worry about it. They only really act like idiots when in the presence of girls they like."

"Do they ever confess their feelings?" I asked her and she shook her head, "why not?"

"Some guys don't want to express their feelings in case they get rejected. But I can tell you this, when you want to start a relationship with someone, you have to have the courage to lay your heart on the line. Let them know what is on your mind, how you feel about them. Tell them that, if they are your friend, that you want more than that. And remember, he has to have the courage to accept those feelings of yours. It takes two to make a relationship work, otherwise it's like a one sided conversation. I won't ask who this guy is, but I wish you all the best with it. Now, do you think you can make it through class?"

"Yeah," I replied, feeling a little brighter.

"Good," she said and she stood, dusting down her dress, "we'll do a basic theory class today on the dissection. Since you didn't see the whole thing."

Class went on like that, with Kaito and Hatsune talking Ms Kanade through the experiment. Gackpo and Luka backed up what they were saying by mentioned other things that they noticed. Aki had fun mentioning how Kaito jumped when the frog began dancing.

"I thought it was alive!" Kaito snapped, with the rest of the class laughing at him.

"You just sent an electrical current into its muscles, making it spasm, Kaito," Ms Kanade stated, suppressing a giggle herself, "every year someone does it."

From there we went onto handwriting, where my handwriting reminded me of a baby ccousin I used to babysit. Was I really that sick? I took out a fresh piece of paper and put my pen down on it, wanting to convey a message to Senpai. Ms Kanade had said to have courage, so I addressed it to him…and knew…if I wanted him to know it was me, I would have to set up a date to see him.

 _Dear Senpai,_

 _I am writing you this letter to tell you how much you mean to me. You are someone I never thought I would actually get a chance to meet. You are the best thing to happen to me, and I don't regret telling you how I feel. I have had one boyfriend before you, but it was nothing serious. As someone once said to me, it was like a one-sided conversation, rather than a serious relationship. We departed shortly after starting the relationship, both wanting different things._

 _The feelings I had for him are nothing compared to what I feel for you. You stole my heart away the first day we meet here in Academi High School. I had been lost, and you had given me directions to my class. You were so sweet to me, and we hadn't even been introduced. At first, I was confused by these feelings of mine. I didn't know what I wanted. I had only recently broken up with my boyfriend, and felt I wasn't ready to take another chance. So I decided to become a friend of yours, someone you could talk to. I wanted to find out who you truly were and what you liked. You were cool, nice and funny. You made me laugh, something no other guy was able to do. So I decided, I wanted to be with you._

 _But I didn't know how to tell you these feelings of mine, and I was scared of being rejected. I wanted to be someone you would want to be with. I wanted to be someone who could be there for you. I can't really explain these feelings of mine on a piece of paper. I also don't know your feelings, or if you have any towards me but I don't want you to tell me something you really don't believe. I want to receive your love and trust when you truly mean it. All I ask of you is to show me that you care for me. I know this is a leap of faith, but can you meet me this Friday? I'll be under the cherry blossom trees behind the school at 5pm. I hope to see you there…_

 _xxx_

I folded the note up, not wanting to reread the words in case I changed my mind. I needed to have the courage to tell him, and this note would tell him something. The last note had been…a simple confession. Nothing like this. If he read this and still wanted to meet me this Friday, I knew he had to feel something. But I didn't want him to know it was me…not yet. I wanted to see if he would figure it out before then.

Lunch came around and I got up to go to my locker, watching Yandere sit at her table. Megumi and Hatsune had gone over to talk to her, so while she was distracted, I grabbed my note and went to Senpai's locker.

"Please meet me," I whispered to the note as I slipped it in and had it rest against his shoes. I locked his locker and wondered briefly what I should do now. I had to get my lunch from my locker…

"The needle," I muttered, remembering Yandere and her strange behaviour yesterday.

I walked over to her locker, and noticed the lock was undone. That made it a little easier to open, but I was cautious. I opened it slowly, surprised to only see her shoes. I took one out and then the other, nothing inside them or around them. There was nothing there, and yet I was certain I had seen her with the needle and the vial yesterday. Maybe she had them moved, so I closed her locker and went to my own. I took out my lunch and went back to class.

Ms Kanade decided to do a joint class, combining 3-2 and 3-1. Mr Aido stepped in to talk about chemistry.

"Now ladies, how many of you wear make-up?" he asked and almost every girl, except Megumi and Yandere, put up their hands.

"Well, do you know what chemicals you're putting on your face?" he asked before telling us everything.

By the end of class, some girls had found wipes and were taking it off. I hadn't realised how pale Hatsune was without her glitter girl foundation, or how little sleep Meiko seemed to get, if the bags under her eyes were any indication.

"What do you use for concealer?" I asked her, clearly impressed by how much it had concealed.

"It's the new Panda Bear Undercover," she said as she retrieved it from her bag, "I bought it from Tokyo. You can have it though, I don't want it after finding out what goes into it!"

"Thanks," I said, not sure how to take that statement.

"Yu-chan," Hatsune asked, "do you want my foundation?"

"Do you not want it?" I asked her.

"No…I think I'll go over to that Basic brand."

Luka located her pale pink Lovestruck lipgloss and gave it to me, saying it, "didn't have that nice strawberry flavour anymore." I sighed and accepted it, knowing that they were all handmedowns because of this class. But hey, maybe I could use some of this…for Friday. That thought made my heart race a little before class finished for the day.

"Has anyone seen Teto?" Kira asked at the end of the day, "she said she was coming in late this morning."

"Maybe the gates were closed before she got here," Luka said as we grabbed our things, "maybe she went home?"

"Yeah…maybe," Kira mumbled, clearly uncertain.

I had to balance on Hatsune's shoulder to put on my shoes, taking off the school shoes and put them in my locker. I looked over at Senpai, and saw he was reading the note. There was a smile on his face as he folded it up to put in his bag. I hope that smile meant he would meet me there.

"Hey, do you want to come over to my house?" Megumi asked.

"Sure," Luka replied.

"Cool!" Meiko answered.

"I have to get home," Hatsune replied with a sigh, "mum got annoyed at me for being late yesterday."

"Sames," Kira answered, "hey, do you want to walk together?"

"Sounds good," Hatsune smiled at Kira before looking at me, "what about you, Yu-chan?"

"I think I'll go with Gumi," I said, "you have to show me how to use the concealer, Meiko."

"Will do," and we walked out together.

Hatsune and Kira lagged behind, talking about Hiro. He was still in Tokyo and wanted to know if Kira wanted to meet up over the weekend there. I waved to them as we got to the gates, noticing Yandere calling out to them. None of my other friends seemed to notice, so I ignored it and went on my way to my friend's house.

It was ten that evening when I got home, my sister drove me there. I was so tired, and wrecked that when my head hit the pillow…I was asleep almost immediately. I forgot to take the make-up off…but I really didn't care.

"I think she should stay at home tomorrow, dad," I vaguely remembered my sister saying, "she's not well."

"I have to go to work," Dad replied, "can you stay with her?"

"Leave money for pizza?"

"Sure," he replied and then I fell asleep, dreaming of Senpai…


	3. Wednesday 6th April 2016

**~ Wednesday 6th April 2016 ~**

I woke up at seven in the morning, and cursed. I was going to be late for school! I felt groggy and my face felt like it was frozen thanks to the makeup I had negligently forgotten to remove when I came home last night. What exactly had happened? I tried to remember what we had done at Megumi's house. I vaguely remembered her bringing us through to her bedroom, which Luka had been disgusted by.

"When was the last time you cleaned, Gumi?" she had asked before picking up a pair of sweatpants, "these are solid!"

"So?" Gumi had asked good-heartedly.

"I swear," Luka mumbled.

"Anyway," Meiko called to distract everyone, "makeover! Yukiji…go over there!"

That was the last thing I really remembered, everything else seemed fuzzy. Maybe I should have gone home with Hatsune and Kira. I shook my head, knowing there was no point in moaning now. What was done was done, I couldn't go back and redo it. I piled my hair up into a bun, grabbed my uniform, and changed. I ran out of my room, looking at myself in the mirror as I went. Today I at least looked semi-normal, if a little frazzled.

"Where are you going, kiddo?" my sister, Mariya, asked me, her back against the front door.

"I'm late for school, Mari-chan," I replied as I sat down to put my shoes on, "can you get out of the way?"

"No go, Yu-chan," she replied, turning to lock the front door, "you're still sick. Dad wants me to stay with you today at home. You can go back to school tomorrow if you're feeling better."

"Mariya!" I cried as she smiled at me, "please! It's important that I go to school!"

"A test?" she asked, and I shook my head, "an experiment?" another shake, "an assignment?" and I nodded.

"Well, give it to me and I'll bring it in for you," she said, putting her hand out, "but you are not leaving this house."

"But why?" I asked as I tried to force the right shoe on my left foot.

"You need to rest, Yukiji," she said as she took the shoe from me, "and it won't help if you rush off to school. Today and tomorrow, you need to rest. I'll go collect any homework for you, so don't worry about it. Anyway, I rented your favourite movie."

"You rented The Voices?" I asked her and she nodded, "the one with Ryan Reynolds?"

"The one and only for my sister," she replied, "now, give me your assignment and get into some pyjamas. I'll be back in half an hour, so have the popcorn and fizzy drinks waiting for me. Want anything else?"

"Sugar sticks?" I asked her and she grabbed her wallet.

"Sugar sticks it is," she answered with a smile.

I took out my assignment from my bag and handed it to her. She found a notebook near the door and stuck on a pair of flip-flops before opening the door. She gave me a wave before locking me in, but she didn't need to. With the promise of sugar sticks, popcorn and Ryan Reynolds, I could be sick for as long as she wanted me to be.

I put my bag in the closet and walked back to my room, where my phone was ringing. I went towards it as it finished. I flipped it open to find I had missed three phone calls. They were all from Luka, so I redialled her number and held the phone to my ear. I heard the dial tone and waited, until it was accepted and I heard Luka breathing on the other side.

"Why didn't you answer your phone?!" she demanded and I was a bit taken back.

"I was talking to Mariya," I replied, "I'm staying home today."

"Good, you were a mess last night," Luka muttered, "Gumi had to ring Mariya to get you home."

"Did I do something?" I asked her.

"You really don't remember, do you?" she asked, "you kept fainting. You got sick twice that Meiko and I put you in the bathroom. So we called Mariya to come collect you, and she told us that you were at the peak of the illness. But that's beside the point. Have you heard from Hatsune?"

"No, I was asleep until seven," I replied and looked to the clock to see it was twenty to eight, "she should be with you, she's never late."

"Yeah, I know that," Luka replied, "but she's not here and she's not answering her phone. For that matter, neither is Kira. Maybe they went to Kira's for the night."

"They were stopped by Yandere," I stated.

"What?" Luka asked, "maybe she wanted to talk to them about that assignment. Hey, the assignment was due today, you handing it in?"

"No, Mariya is," I replied.

"I'll keep an eye out for her," Luka said, "look, a lot of weird things are going on. I'm not sure what to think anymore."

"What else?" I asked her, now sitting on my bed.

"Do you know that furnace, by the front gate?" I said yes, "it was working and active when I arrived at half seven. I mean, putrid smoke was wafting out."

"Anything else?" I asked her.

"Well…I saw a bucket near it, and it was dyed pink. Did the janitor leave it out there?"

"Was there a school uniform?" I asked her.

"A school uniform? No, but there was a guitar case. It had a lock on it so I couldn't open it, but it was resting near the furnace. Almost as if someone wanted to burn it."

"Huh," I stated.

"Look, I don't know what's going on. But with Teto gone, Kira and Hatsune not answering their phones, I'm a little anxious. Mind if I come over to your house tonight? I'll bring R.I.P.D…"

"Cool!" I said, "I'll let Mariya know."

"Don't bother, I can see her. I'll talk to you at lunch, alright? Answer your phone?"

"I'll have it charging beside me," I replied, "talk to you then."

"Thanks Yu-chan," she said, and before hanging up, I heard, "Mariya, over here!"

With the phone call ended, the goosebumps on my arms and neck were raised. Something was really wrong, and it wasn't something I could explain. I got out of my uniform and into my pyjamas, grabbed a blanket and walked into the living room. I put the blanket down and went to the kitchen, pouring Mariya and I some fizzy and putting the popcorn on. I stayed with the popcorn, and watched it cook. My eyes wandered until I found myself staring at a notepad.

I walked over to it, taking it down from the fridge. It had the cheery saying, "while you were out, you missed…" in cursive. Mariya must have bought it for Dad, I thought as I located a pen.

"I should make a list of the weird things this week," I mumbled as I wrote "WEIRD THINGS" in capitals and decided to work by day, then I'd understand what was going on. But this had to be beyond the normal, so I focused this list on Yandere. In the end it looked like this:

Ø **Monday**

o Yandere was watching Senpai like prey.

o A needle and tranquiliser was stolen from the nurse's office. Why?

o Saw Yandere with a capped needle and clear vial. Is this the stolen stuff from the nurse's office?

o She said we were bitches, and that we wanted to take someone away from her. Is this Senpai?

o She found the love note that I wrote to him. Is it the one I wrote to him? (if it is, she wants to talk to me…).

Ø **Tuesday**

o Teto didn't come into school. Kira said she was going to be late, but didn't come in at all.

o I wrote another note for Senpai, asking him to meet me on Friday.

o The needle and tranquiliser were gone from Yandere's locker. Where did they go?

o Hatsune and Kira were called by Yandere.

Ø **Wednesday**

o Hatsune and Kira are missing, not answering their phone.

o Teto is not at school again.

o Luka said the furnace was active, with a bad smell coming from it.

o Luka said there was a guitar case near it, with a lock.

o The janitor's bucket was dyed pink. By blood?

o The school uniform was not there. Was it used to replace a bloody one?

Having the list worked out, did not make me comfortable. It opened so many questions, and what was Yandere planning? Nearly everything linked back to her, but why?

"This probably means she found the love note I wrote yesterday," I mumbled as the front door opened, "will she be waiting for me at five instead of Senpai?"

"Yukiji! I smell popcorn!" Mariya called out before coming into the kitchen, "what's up?"

"Nothing," I replied, tapping the pen against the list, "Mari-chan, did you ever have a weird student in your class when you went to Academi High School?"

"I'm sure every class has some odd balls," she replied as she opened the fridge, "they eventually move on when they find out no one's interested in them. You know my friend, Suzi, right?"

"Yeah…?" I replied.

"Suzi was an odd ball. She liked to set fire to things. But she stopped that, when she realised it wasn't helping her make friends…and that I had a fire extinguisher. But, moral of the story, is odd balls are people too. Now! Popcorn me, Yu-chan!"

I sighed, knowing that story had nothing to do with Yandere. I retrieved the popcorn and put it in a bowl as Mariya loaded the movie. I made sure my phone was by my side, as I had promised Luka.

"Oh, your sugar sticks," Mariya said as she got up and retrieved the red ones, "they had red or blue, so I got the red ones."

"Thanks," I said as I opened them to eat one, "red's my favourite."

"Hatsune right?" Mariya asked, "you used to like blue before she told you that the blue ones were made with children's tears. Gave you red ones instead."

"Yeah…she did," I mumbled, not liking where this conversation was going, "em…Luka is coming over later."

"Yeah, I spoke with her. Is she alright? She seemed a little nervous with me."

"Just some weird stuff happening in school," I replied.

"I would give anything to be in school again, Yu-chan," she said as she pressed play.

The movie was great, but I was too distracted to really grasp the awesomeness of Ryan Reynolds. My mind was focused on Luka. She was indeed nervous, her friends were going missing. She had probably been ringing, to make sure I answered. She was scared I had been with Hatsune, Kira and Teto. When the movie finished, it was nearly lunch time.

"Want some sausage egg roll?" Mariya asked once she had tidied away our movie mess.

"That sounds really nice," I replied as my phone rang.

"Go answer that. Lunch will be ready in thirty minutes," she said as I answered it.

"Yukiji?" Luka asked hesitantly on the other end.

"Hey, I had my phone waiting for your-"

"Something weird is going on," Luka interrupted me.

I retrieved my list from the kitchen and went to my room. I clicked the pen and held the phone with my left hand.

"What happened?" I asked her.

"The nurse lost another vial of tranquiliser, and Mr Aido lost a vial of cyanide. Why would someone take those?" she asked me, her voice itching towards hysterics.

"Luka, did anything else happen?" I asked her.

"Meiko," Luka answered, "she was talking to me one minute and then said she felt sick. She started choking…like really choking. She couldn't breathe…Yukiji, Meiko died today in school. The ambulance couldn't bring her back. It was terrifying. The police are here right now, keeping an eye on everyone. Ms Kanade asked if it was possible for us to go home, but Meiko's death was questionable…so we're all suspects. Especially since the cyanide went missing!"

"Whose still there?" I asked her.

"Well, Megumi is up in the classroom. She's jumpy, she says she can't trust me! I was supposedly with everyone before they either disappeared or died. She's convinced I'm the one doing this. Yukiji, I swear I didn't do anything! I may have been with everyone but please believe me when I say I did nothing to harm them! Do you believe me?"

She sounded desperate, as if her sanity was on the line. I knew it wasn't her, my bets were on Yandere being the murderer and the person responsible from Hatsune, Kira and Teto.

"I believe you Luka," I said as I wrote out what she had told me, "I want you to stay with Megumi and the other guys. Make sure you're not alone."

"Thanks Yukiji," she said, "but why?"

"I think Yandere is out for us," I replied, finally voicing my concerns, "she's been acting strangely this week."

"Yeah, she has," Luka said, and I was surprised she agreed with me, "I saw her at her locker, holding this letter in her hands. She squeezed it before throwing it into a bin. But this whole…the compliments that never vary, the madman look she sometimes has. You'd swear she was in love with Senpai."

"I think she is," I answered, "problem is, someone else is also in love with him."

"Who?" Luka asked.

"I'll tell you when you come over tonight, not over the phone," I said.

"Yukiji, I thought I was the only one who thought Yandere was batshit crazy…I…" and the phone was moved, before Luka lifted it to her ear, "oh shit, I think she heard me."

"Who did?" I asked.

"Yandere, she was by the lockers. I didn't notice her…she must have heard everything."

"Can you leave the school, Luka?" I asked her, "it's not safe there anymore."

"The police are beckoning Yandere and I. They want to do an assembly. I have to go Yukiji, I'll see you tonight," and the call ended. I wasn't sure she even heard my warning.

"Luka!" I shouted, but it did no good. She wouldn't hear me, so I put the phone down.

The bad feeling crawled over me, the same feeling from Monday. Was it really only Wednesday? Mariya brought me out of my room for lunch, but I barely ate anything. She put on another movie, something to do with possession, but I couldn't muster up the energy needed to enjoy it. Mariya stopped pushing conversation when she realised it was getting her nowhere. In the end, she made dinner as Dad walked in from work. He kissed the top of my head and went for a shower, and I glanced at my phone.

It was at half eight that I knew Luka wasn't coming over. She would have told me if she couldn't make it, but something told me, the choice had been taken from her. I tried ringing her but she didn't answer, so I rang Megumi.

"Megumi, I'm glad you answered your-" I said.

"It's all so much," she whispered to me, "my friends are all gone."

"No they aren't," I replied, "I'm still here and so is Luka-"

"That bitch killed them all! You're next if you aren't careful…I can't let her kill me…"

"Luka didn't do anything!" I snapped.

"You're so naïve…so naïve. I was naïve once, but now everything is clear to me. I was tricked…but no more. No more. Goodbye Yukiji, you were a good friend."

The phone was cut off, and that dark feeling spread over me. Something was very wrong…something I couldn't understand. I tried ringing Megumi again but she didn't answer. I put the phone down and decided I would go to bed. There was nothing more I could do…not until tomorrow. Mariya came in before I turned out the light, a small muffin in her hands.

"Peace offering?" she said as she held it out to me.

"Thanks Mari-chan," I said as I took the muffin.

"What's up, kiddo?" she said.

"My friends are disappearing," I whispered, "not in the sense that they found new friends, I mean they are literally disappearing. Hatsune, Teto and Kira are all gone. Meiko was poisoned…Luka won't answer her phone and Megumi sounded different. What do I do?"

"Shush," Mariya said, "when I went to Academi, that didn't happen…whose your teacher?"

"Ms Kanade," I replied.

"I'll call her tomorrow while you're in bed. I'm sure this is nothing. Maybe Hatsune, Kira and Teto went to Tokyo for a girls' trip. Megumi might be bogged down by homework, and not feeling happy. Meiko could have been food poisoned, that's not uncommon. And Luka…well, maybe her phone died when she was walking home. I'm sure it will be alright by Friday."

"Can I go to school tomorrow?" I asked her.

"No Yu-chan, sleep tomorrow. We'll see how you are tomorrow for Friday. Now go to sleep, and I'll wake you up tomorrow."

She put the blanket around me, tucked me in and kissed my forehead. She hummed to me before I was lulled into a weird dream, like Monday's really…

 _I walked into school, and everyone was dead. All of my friends were lying on the floor, blood decorating their too pale skin. In their centre was Yandere, Senpai near her._

 _"Yandere-chan, I love you. I never understood Yukiji's feelings for me. Please get rid of her…so our love can blossom…"_

 _Yandere lifted a pen knife up and walked over my friends, her shoes sinking into their corpses. I turned and ran for it, but I never made it to the gate. Yandere was faster than before, and the knife was pushed into my back. I screamed as blood poured from my mouth, my fear making me panic._

 _"Goodbye Yuki-chan," she said in a sing-song voice._

I woke up, sweat pouring down my face as I relived that dream. She had killed me quicker this time, and Senpai had been beside her. Was this my brain's way of solidifying what I already thought? Was Senpai there to say I couldn't ever have him or that Yandere would get him before me? I couldn't understand it completely and put my head back on my pillow, my hand on my forehead. I needed to hear from my friends tomorrow…and find out what the hell happened over the last two days. Something told me, I was in danger…because Yandere was looking for me, because I was her rival…and she knew about Friday.

"Please let Senpai be waiting for me on Friday…not her…" I begged before falling into an uneasy sleep.


	4. Thursday 7th April 2016

**~ Thursday 7th April 2016 ~**

I woke up earlier than normal, and I couldn't determine why. Had I had another bad dream? I put my hand to my head, trying to remember what had happened. There was nothing there, no memory of Yandere killing me a third time. I took a deep breath, now wondering what had woken me. I looked around my cluttered room, until my eyes rested on my glowing phone. I checked my clock for the time. Someone was calling me? At four in the morning?

I got out of bed, fixed my shorts and vest before reaching for it. I opened the phone to see it was a blocked number. Should I answer it? It could be a friend of mine too drunk to realise they were calling me. Wait…my friends had been out of contact with me since yesterday, so this made that phone call stranger. I pressed the call button, and put the phone to my ear.

"Hello?" I asked, not sure who had called to begin with.

"Ms Yukiji?" a man asked, and I felt nervous. How had this man gotten my number?

"Who's asking?" I answered back.

"This is Sergeant Yuuji Shinozaki," the man replied, "I work with the police."

"Em…why are you calling me?" I asked him, knowing the situation was grave when a policeman was calling you at four in the morning, "I swear I haven't done anything!"

"I'm sending two of men to collect you," he replied, not addressing my concerns, "they should be with you soon."

"Why?" I demanded, standing, feeling indignant.

"You are coming in for questioning," he replied, "we have some questions we need to ask you in relation to this current week."

The door was knocked and I screamed. My body was shaking that it took me a moment to remember what Shinozaki had said to me. He had sent two men to retrieve me…at my home…

"Ms Yukiji?" the sergeant asked as I sat on my bed, "are you alright?"

"My door was just knocked…I wasn't expecting it…" I replied weakly, "I better answer it."

"I will stay on the phone," he stated, which gave me some comfort. If it wasn't his men, then he would hear me scream again. Oh God…what if it was Yandere? What if she was here to "talk to me"?

"Em…Sergeant?" I asked as I stood in the doorway of my room, "can I ask you something?"

"Sure," he answered, clearly not sure what was on my mind.

"There's this girl in my school…she's a bit crazy…so, do you mind…if I arm myself before opening that door? I'll drop it as soon as I see badges…I swear to that!"

"Has this girl threatened you in any way?" Shinozaki asked, taking this threat seriously.

"She's threatened me in a general sense," I answered. He clucked his tongue which told me he thought it was a prank on my part about Yandere.

"You may, but do not harm those officers!" he snapped.

I took that as permission and ran to my kitchen. I grabbed a knife, a long thin blade and held it tight. It was four in the morning, I'm sure the officers would understand. I crept slowly to the door as it was knocked again, this time someone was peering in. I unlocked the door, keeping the chain on as I stepped onto the cold tiles. The chill reminded me that there were worse things out there than two police officers.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Ms Yukiji, please open the door!" one man shouted.

"You are under arrest!" the other man shouted.

"Show me your badges!" I snapped back, holding the knife tighter, "I'm not opening that door until I see badges!"

"Open this door!" one snapped.

"Kizumi!" the second man said, "miss, I'll just put my badge through the gap…if you can open the door enough for that?"

I leaned forward and opened the door, and an arm moved in, a badge in his hand. I took it, my fingers grazing his calloused ones. I then brought it over to the kitchen and looked at it from the light over the stove. Inspector Sebastian Tachibana looked back at me, his hair a soft brown. His eyes were a bright grey that promised security. I walked back to the door and looked out, seeing how dark it was. I flicked on the light so I could see their profiles, and Tachibana was indeed there, his hair a little shorter.

"Kizumi, just give her your ID," Tachibana muttered.

The disgruntled blond took the badge from his pocket and handed it in through the door. I brought it over to the stove and saw Satoshi Kizumi looking back at me, his blond hair to his shoulders and his eyes a dark blue. He had a scar that ran from the corner of his mouth to his ear, but looked like the man outside my house. I put down the knife and went into my room, grabbed a fluffy white cardigan to put on and fixed my shorts once more. The black vest hitched up to reveal my stomach and the small scar there. My sister had needed a kidney…so long ago.

I took my phone and the badges back to the door, put on a pair of flats and turned my attention to Shinozaki who was listening on the phone.

"Your men are outside, I'm ready to go with them," I said to him.

"You put away your weapon?" he asked me.

"It's gone, I'm only going with myself," I answered.

"Then I will see you at the station," Shinozaki said as he hung up.

"Till then," I replied to the dead phone.

I put the phone into my pocket, and closed the door. I took the chain away and opened the door once more. I stayed on the tiles, knowing it was rude to wear my shoes inside the house. The two men stood there, their eyes scanning me as I looked to them.

"Do you have any paper?" I asked.

"Sure," Tachibana said before handing me his notepad and a pen.

I scribbled a note for Mariya and dad to find, knowing dad wouldn't have heard me. He took some medication to sleep and Mariya had her own home. She would be by in the morning, and would see it. I put it down near where she put her keys and stepped out of the house. I locked the door with my own keys, ones I had grabbed from the bowl by the door and put them in my pocket. I placed my hand on the door.

"Sleep well, dad," I said as I followed the officers to their car.

Kizumi opened the back door and I sat in, only to see that I was alone. Tachibana sat beside me, holding handcuffs.

"Just for security, Ms Yukiji," he said as he fastened one cuff to my wrist and then the other to his.

"You can call me Yukiji," I replied, "that is my name."

"Yukiji," he repeated, "I bet your friends call you Yuki or Yu-chan."

"They did," I replied, "no one calls me that anymore."

"Oh why?" he asked as Kizumi started driving.

"They stopped speaking to me yesterday. I haven't heard from any of my friends since lunchtime yesterday…and that was Luka."

"Oh," he said, something was upsetting him with that information.

I turned to look at the window as we passed Academi High School. Maybe I'd see Luka there tomorrow, or Megumi, Hatsune, Kira and Teto. They would laugh at me about Tuesday, and my clown make-up. I could tell them I was going to see Senpai and tell him I loved him. They would insist on doing my make-up and changing my clothes. I would stand under the cherry blossoms at the back of the school, the pink petals floating around me like confetti. And my dream was that Senpai would accept my feelings, and he would want to be with me.

While I had been thinking of Friday, the car had parked and Tachibana was calling my name.

"Yukiji?" he asked and I shook my head to look at him.

"Just away with my thoughts," I said as I gave him a smile.

"We're at the station," he said sadly as he slid towards his door, "ready?"

I nodded and followed behind him, his hand reaching forward to steady me once it was my job to get out. I fixed my vest, wishing I had worn something else, when I was led into the police station.

It was loud, and very bright. I squinted, my eyes found it hard to focus on things. Kizumi took the rear as Tachibana took the front, my arm outstretched with his. So this was what it felt like to be a criminal. I could understand now why dad liked those cop shows so much. I was brought past some bigger drunk men who leered at me, one attempted to snag my leg. Kizumi caught his arm before he could, and I was moved on. What exactly was I supposed to do?

A door opened and in front of me was a man with black hair, his eyes a dark chocolate brown. He smiled at me, but it never reached his eyes.

"Ms Yukiji," he said as he stepped forward, "I'm Sergeant Shinozaki."

"Hello," I replied awkwardly.

"We'll talk in my office, do you want anything to drink?" he asked me.

"Some coffee?" I asked and he looked to someone near his office.

"Kazuki, please fetch some coffee for Ms Yukiji," Shinozaki said.

"Sure thing, Sergeant. Ms Yukiji, do you take sugar?"

"Three sugars and milk please," I said and he nodded, "you can call me Yukiji."

"Coming right up…Yukiji," he said before running off.

I was brought into the office and placed in a chair. Tachibana stood beside me, one arm hung down to relax my cuffed one. The other was behind his back. Kizumi stood behind me, a baton in his hands. Why did he need a weapon? Shinozaki sat down behind a big mahogany desk, his hands stapled under his chin. It felt like he was assessing me, similarly to when our principal had assessed me before I became class rep. I could withstand the stares, and I only broke contact when the door opened.

"I have your coffee, Yukiji," Kazuki said with a smile as he put a coaster down with the cup, "hope you like it."

I used first my cuffed hand before the rattle and the sudden movement of Tachibana made me freeze. For a moment I forgot it was Kizumi with the baton and not Tachibana. I lowered my hand and sighed.

"Sorry…I'm right handed," I said to no one in particular.

"Tachibana, switch hands," Shinozaki said and it was done.

I reached for the coffee again and sipped it, grateful I had asked for one more sugar than normal. It sent a buzz through me, giving me some sense. I was in trouble, there was no doubt about that. But when I had normally been in trouble, mum had used to sit me down with some coffee, an extra sugar, and tell me where I stood. I missed those days, when I could come home from school and she would be standing at the door waiting for me.

"Hello, Yu-chan!" she had said, almost singing it to me.

"Mama!" I had replied before running into her arms, my feet still on the tiles with my shoes.

"I missed you, Yu-chan," she had said, one hand circling my waist while the other fixed my hair that had come undone, "you must have had an adventure today. Your hair is messy."

"Luka showed me this forest path at lunchtime!" I replied, wanting her to know everything.

"You'll have to show me sometime," she had answered before coughing, "maybe when I'm feeling better?"

"Em!" I replied, and I held onto her.

She didn't get better, only worse. Eventually she couldn't leave her bed and the days of her greeting me at the door disappeared. No one waited for me, until Mariya came home. She saw how depressed I had become, missing mum waiting for me. So one day, I came home from a terrible day at school. A boy had pulled my hair, and it was a mess. But there no one to impress, so I didn't fix my hair. I had opened that door, familiar but not.

"Hello Yu-chan!" a voice had called and I turned to see Mariya, her arms outstretched for me, "welcome home."

"Mari-chan…" I sobbed before running to her, my eyes brimming with tears.

"I missed you," she whispered, "and you have no need to cry. Here," and she put one arm around my waist while the other fixed my hair, "did you have an adventure?"

"A boy pulled my hair," I mumbled into her chest.

"I'll have to talk to him then," she said softly, "but I'm glad you're home."

She did that for me, waited for me to come home. She left school early so she could be there for me. One day however she had an exam, and I had opened the door, expecting to see Mariya. But no one was there, and I went about the day like I would have. Mariya apologised when she got home, only to find me with some ramen and watching Totally Spies. A few days later, mum was taken into hospital, to be put on a respirator. Dad unplugged her a month later when there was no hope of recovery. I was seven when my mother died, and at her funeral, I could still hear her.

 ** _""You'll have to show me sometime…maybe when I'm feeling better?""_**

When I was ten, I went to the forest path with a small plaque and flowers. I put it next to a tree that had Luka and my initials in it, and placed the flowers down.

"Here's the forest path, mum, I've finally shown you. Sorry it took so long. I guess…we never know how much time we have, huh?" and I had talked to her, as if she was standing there.

 _"Tell me, did you have an adventure today?"_ her voice echoed around me.

"I did, Mama, I had the best adventure," I had whispered to her and told her it all.

I remembered that all when I looked into the coffee, and that third spoonful of sugar. I drank some more and looked back up to Shinozaki, feeling calmer. It felt like my mum was watching over me, like she was in that room with me.

"Ms Yukiji," Shinozaki said as he cracked his fingers, "I have a few questions for you."

"Sure," I said as I sipped my coffee.

"Where were you yesterday?" he asked me.

"At home," I replied.

"Can someone verify this?" he asked.

"My sister Mariya was with me," I replied, "I was sick."

"At any point was Mariya not there?" he asked.

"Em…once that I remember. She went in to hand in an assignment and pick up some sweets for me. That was at about…half seven? Nearly eight?"

"Why are you not sure?" he asked.

"I was on the phone with Luka," I replied, "she saw Mariya and brought her into the school."

"And then Mariya returned?" he asked and I nodded, "the rest of the day?"

"We watching a movie she had rented for me, she told me she had got it before coming over since she lives with her boyfriend. His name is Raku."

"Does he live nearby?" Shinozaki asked and I shook my head, "where does he live?"

"I don't know, I've never been there. All I know is it takes Mariya fifteen minutes to drive to our house in her car. Did Mariya do something wrong?"

"No," he replied, "we're establishing a timeline for yesterday. Now, you called Luka…she called you at lunchtime. What did you talk about?"

"Why?" I asked him.

"We want to know if you fought with her, maybe got a little annoyed. Maybe you were tired of her, she was getting more attention than you…maybe you decided you didn't want to be in her shadow anymore…"

"Luka and I never fought!" I snapped, "we've been friends since we were five!"

"How old are you now, Yukiji?" he asked.

"I'm sixteen," I replied.

"Eleven years in someone's shadow…that must feel horrible. Tachibana, bring her with us."

"Sir!" Tachibana said as Kizumi got me to my feet, "you can't!"

"I can and will," he replied.

I was pushed along, with Tachibana giving me another sad look. What had happened? They were scaring me. I was brought down stairs and into a darkened hallway. The only sounds I could make out were my footsteps and my heavy breathing. What were they going to do to me? Should I have called Mariya? I should have! I should have demanded that one call Dad's shows testified to.

"I want my phone call!" I demanded.

"You'll need a lawyer, Ms Yukiji," Shinozaki said and opened another set of doors, "Kyle, show her."

A man dressed in white walked over to a table, and I saw a white cloth covering something. What was there…? He pulled it away slowly, and I saw short yellow hair, more yellow than blonde. It was messy, from someone roughly pulling the ponytail free. It went down to the body's shoulders, which were a dark red. The blanket was moved further, revealing breasts that were about average, but they were ravaged. The blanket revealed a stomach, marks decorated it like medals of honour and the blanket was removed completely to show off long legs. Her legs were like her stomach, except so damaged as to stop her from running. Blood decorated her skin like a fancy dress for a party, as Shinozaki unlocked my cuff and pushed me forward. My hands rested on the metal tray, my eyes closed tight. I didn't want to see someone's dead eyes looking back at me.

"Open your goddamn eyes!" Shinozaki snapped as he slapped me, "look at what you did!"

I opened my eyes out of surprise, to find myself looking into the eyes of my best friend. Luka was pale, horribly so. Her eyes were vacant, no longer a bright golden colour. Someone had been cruel to her, probably broke her legs so she couldn't run. I felt the coffee I had drunk come up a little and I turned to run out of the room, my eyes brimming with tears. I found the bathroom and barely made it in before getting sick. I was shaking, and I couldn't catch a breath. Someone had murdered my best friend, stabbed her repeatedly.

"Yukiji?" a voice called out as I got sick once more, seeing her eyes looking at me.

"Ahh!" I sobbed as I put my head on the rim of the toilet, "ahh!"

"Yukiji," the voice said and my hair was pulled away from my face as I cried and got sick.

My stomach was empty a few minutes later, and I was only dry heaving. The person rubbed my back, until I moved my head to rest on the floor. The cool tiles felt nice against my too warm skin.

"Why? Who did that to her?" I asked, my voice so small.

"Sergeant wanted to see your reaction," the voice replied, "and there was DNA on her that belonged to you. A handkerchief I think. One with a pink fringe on it was found near her body."

"Mum left me that when she died, I left it in my locker at school. I must have forgot it last week…" I mumbled.

"Well, you can understand now why you were brought here…right?" the voice asked.

"I would never do that to Luka. Sure we fought on small things like who got the last muffin, but we never went to the extreme of saying we'd kill each other. We knew that we were all we had in the end. I would never hurt her the way that monster had…and if I had gotten angry at her, I would have talked to her about it. She knew I hated to fight with any of our friends. I guess I know why she didn't come over yesterday."

"Our mortician placed her death at around 4 in the afternoon yesterday to 5."

"Did she have a DVD on her?" I asked the voice.

"There was a copied DVD in her bag with R.I.P.D. on it," the voice said.

"She said she was going to bring over a movie for us to watch. She knows how much I like Ryan Reynolds…"

"So she was on her way to see you," the voice said though now it sounded like a whisper.

"Yeah…" I whispered back before I fainted.

"Yukiji!" was the last thing I heard…

I think it's called sensory overload, that's what it was when I saw Luka. I could see her, in a way I had never wanted to see my best friend. I guess with getting sick and feeling faint, I just couldn't handle the information that my friend was dead. I woke up in an office, a blanket wrapped around me as I blinked against the sunlight. Wait…sunlight?

"She fainted!" a voice said, the same voice that had been with me in the bathroom, "doesn't that say she didn't kill Luka?!"

"Her handkerchief was found at the scene of the crime! The last phone call on the victim's phone was hers. This all points to her being the murderer! We need to know what was said in that phone call!"

"She told me something weird was going on," I said, catching their attention, "that the nurse had lost another vial of tranquiliser and our science teacher Mr Aido had lost a vial of cyanide. He kept the vial on hand for experiments, to show us how dangerous it was. She told me Meiko had been poisoned during lunch and the EMTs were too late to save her. The police were at the school and since Meiko's death could be linked to the missing cyanide, all students were to remain on campus. Only my other friend Megumi was in school, but Luka said she was nervous and she thought Luka was behind all the weird things happening. Luka asked me if I trusted her, that she was innocent and I told her yes, I did. I told her to stay with Megumi and the guys, thinking she'd be safe in a big group. I told her I thought Yandere, a girl in our class, was out to get us; that she had been acting suspiciously for the last few days. Luka agreed with me, and told me the same reasons I had felt suspicious for."

"Which were?" Shinozaki asked.

"She was always complimenting us," I replied.

"How is that strange?" Kizumi asked and I turned to look at him.

"She never varied the compliments. Every day, at least once, she told us, "I just thought I'd tell you, you look lovely today." It never changed, and she always said it in a stiff way, like she couldn't grasp the feelings required to make the compliment genuine. She also sometimes looked like she was about to go crazy, as in psycho bitch alert. She's in love with this guy in my class called Senpai, and she called us her rivals."

"Okay…" Kizumi said, clearly retracting his earlier statement.

"What else?" Tachibana said, clearly happy that I was being cooperative.

"I told Luka that someone else was in love with Senpai, and she asked who. I told her I'd tell her when she came over, because I didn't want to tell her if Yandere was nearby. She told me she thought Yandere was batshit crazy…and then said she thought Yandere had heard the conversation between us. I asked her if she could leave the school; that it wasn't safe to be there. She had probably pissed off Yandere. But then the police decided to call them both over and Luka told me she's talk to me that evening…which she didn't. Because well…she was dead…"

"Is that all the phone call was about?" Tachibana asked me and I turned my eyes on him.

"Yes," I replied in what I would later describe as a monotone, "because the police officers beckoned my friend away with Yandere. My friend is dead because you wouldn't let her leave…"

"Yukiji-" Shinozaki said as I stood, pushing the blanket aside.

"I'm going home, you can call me if you want to talk again but I don't think I can help you any further," I said in that same monotone as I fixed my shoes and left the office.

I stepped out into the sunlight, and put my hands in the pockets of my cardigan. My fingers brushed the metal of the keys and the hard case of my phone. I also felt the leather of the badges. I should have returned them, but I must have forgotten. I took them out and put them in the mailbox. I then walked home, not sure where home was. Where exactly was I? What time was it? I took to my right and started walking, gazing at my shoes hitting small stones.

Luka was dead, stabbed to death after some monster broke her legs. They had probably heard her scream, and then dropped my handkerchief near her so I would be incriminated. It would look like a fight broke out between us, and she had pulled a pocket and the handkerchief had come free. Her phone would have been in her bag, the front pocket so she wouldn't have rung anyone to talk to. I wish she had, then at least someone could have caught her murderer or been there to stop her being killed.

I stopped there, my knees buckling as the full weight of what I had seen came crashing down on me. I had seen my friend's body, I had been accused of her murder. I had been through a lot in the last few hours, I think that was why I broke down again and cried.

"Yukiji?" a voice asked but I didn't look up, "hey, Yukiji."

Someone dropped to their hunches to lift my chin carefully, and I looked into Gackpo's eyes. They were a soft blue and they promised me a buoy in these raging waters. I wrapped my arms around his neck and cried into his shoulder, his arms circling my waist.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked me.

"Luka…Luka…" I sobbed and he nodded, "did you know?"

"Ms Kanade held homeroom today, to tell us the news," he said, "you weren't there…so who told you?"

"The police…they thought I did that to her…they thought I had attacked her…I didn't…I could never do that to her…" I sobbed as he rubbed my back, "I'm not her murderer, I swear Gackpo!"

"I know," he answered, "Ms Kanade has told us to walk home in pairs for the next few days, that it isn't safe to be alone. I'll walk you home, I'm only two houses down from you."

"You don't need to," I whispered as he put on arm at my waist, his satchel across his body and caught one of my hands over his shoulder, holding it gently as if I were about to break.

"Well, Luka would want me to. You know she wouldn't want her friend crying in the middle of a road," he said, "you're lucky I was taking the long route home. You're not that close to Academi."

"Thanks," I whispered to him and he walked with me.

He got me to my front door and I handed him the keys. He opened it wide before he was called.

"Hey Gackpo!" a voice called and Gackpo turned so we could see Kaito.

"Hey Kaito," he replied, "mind waiting for me?"

"Is Yukiji making tea?" Kaito asked as he ambled towards us, "where were you? You missed a hell of a day at school."

I ignored him as Gackpo sat me down to undo my shoes before kicking off his own. He then brought me into the living which was empty. A blanket was got from my room to wrap around my shoulders as I curled up tight. I stared at the blank television set, trying to see anything but Luka's dead body. That was something I never wanted to see again. I wanted to remember her as my friend, the one who wiped my make-up off and said I looked like a clown. I wanted to see her easy smile, one I had earned the right to see. I wanted to see her pulling on her ponytail when she was nervous…I wanted to see my friend alive again.

"Here," Kaito said as he handed me a cup of tea, "Gackpo told me."

"Why?" I asked him without looking at him, "why Luka?"

"She was alone," he whispered, "she told me that she was walking to see you and since you were only five minutes away, what was the worry. I should have told her that it didn't matter how far you lived, I would walk with her."

"I offered the same to her," Gackpo said, "until Megumi asked me to walk her home. Takuma was with us and said he would walk with me since he lived next door to me."

"Megumi thought she was behind it all this week," I whispered.

"Yeah, she did spin some fantasies yesterday. Too bad she didn't hear about today," Kaito said, "ow!"

I hadn't noticed that Gackpo had punched his side, warning him against something. But oblivious to that, I looked between them, now curious.

"Why didn't she hear it today?" I asked.

Sure Megumi had sounded down but why would she miss school? She, like Hatsune, hated being out, and often came in even when she looked like a living corpse. We had laughed at her about it often, but she got us back when we were in sick for a test.

"Who's the living corpse now?" she would say when that happened.

"Maybe I shouldn't tell you, I don't want you to get any more upset," Kaito said to me, his eyes on the cup of tea he must have made himself.

"Tell me," I said, knowing I needed to know.

"Yukiji…Megumi wasn't in school today," Gackpo said gently, "because…"

"Her mum found her," Kaito said, "she was in her bathroom…in a bath full of water."

"So?" I asked, not grasping what they were avoiding.

"She slit her wrists," Gackpo said, running an agitated hand through his hair, "she left a note saying she didn't want a certain person coming for her."

"Megumi is…dead?" I whispered, "when?"

"Since last night, about eleven," Kaito said, "her funeral is Sunday with Luka's."

I put the tea down and pulled my phone out, seeking that phone call I had made to Gumi. There…I had called her at…10:59pm last night. She had sounded depressed, and I closed my eyes to listen to her again, to hear what was around her.

 ** _"That bitch killed them all! You're next if you aren't careful…I can't let her kill me…"_**

 _ **"You're so naïve…so naïve. I was naïve once, but now everything is clear to me. I was tricked…but no more. No more. Goodbye Yukiji, you were a good friend…"**_

Her words echoed in my head as they had in the phone call. She had been in a room which could echo, or at least distort her voice. Something told me, I had rung her while she was running the bath. But before she cut her wrists. My friend had killed herself to get away from a murderer, one she thought was Luka. Which means that Luka had been dead hours prior to that but her body hadn't been discovered. Gumi hadn't known the truth…and she had died thinking Luka was the monster. Luka had been murdered thinking Gumi hated her…

"I spoke to Gumi," I whispered as I dropped my phone, "I spoke to her before it."

"Oh God!" Kaito said as he touched my hand, "Jesus, Yuki-chan, you're freezing."

"I could have stopped her…I should have known," I looked into their eyes, "she told me goodbye. That I was a good friend to her."

"She said that in her note," Gackpo said as he caught my other hand, "Yukiji, is there anyone I can call for you?"

At that point, the door slammed open and the two guys jumped. Shoes were quickly taken off and Gackpo was moved away. I was moved so my eyes rested on my sister's. Mariya looked angry, but when she saw me, that expression smoothed out to fear.

"Yu-chan," she said, "Yu-chan, speak to me. I was just at the police station to be told what they had done to you. You should have called me!"

"They said they'd let me…as soon as I saw her…" I whispered in reply.

"Those bastards!" Mariya snapped, which shook me out of my shock a little. She never cursed, it was not like her.

"I'll sue them for putting you through that shit!" she said as her eyes heated up once more, "you're sixteen! They should have gotten Dad to go in with you!"

"He was asleep," I whispered as tears flooded over, "Mari-chan."

"Oh Yu-chan," she whispered as she wrapped her arms around me, "I'm here now," as an afterthought she looked to Gackpo and Kaito, "do you boys need a lift?"

"No, I live two doors away," Gackpo said, "and Kaito lives two doors up from that. We'll make sure we get home safe."

"Take the baseball bat by the door in case," my sister said, "better to be safe than sorry."

"Thanks…"

"You can call me Mariya," she said, "now get home before its dark."

"Yes Mariya," they both replied as they put on their shoes, Kaito grabbed the bat and they stepped out into the sunlight.

"What time is it?" I asked her.

"It's nearly five," she replied, "I got a call from Raku telling me Dad had found a note in the house saying you were going to the police station with two men named Tachibana and Kizumi. That you should be back soon. I left my phone at the apartment so Raku called me at lunchtime at work and told me what had happened. I left work at one and drove like a madman down here, to wait for an hour and a half to speak to some gobshite called Shinoyaki-"

"Shinozaki," I whispered.

"Shinozaki Shinoyaki, does it matter?" she asked and I shook my head, "and he told me it was confidential. I told him who I was, showed him my ID and told him in simple terms to tell me what the hell happened or I would kick him in the nuts. He could arrest me for attacking an officer but I would have simply kicked him while he was down. I told him you were under eighteen, that a guardian should have been with you. It was only then I found out they called you at four in the fecking morning! I was about to blame Dad when I heard that. He would have taken his tablets and would have been out cold. You were alone here. He then told me you asked to hold a weapon in your hands because some girl had threatened you. But he said it was some girl thing and nothing had actually happened, so there was nothing he could do about the matter.

"Well that was another two hours of my life I wasn't going to get back so I demanded to know where you were. He said you left of your own accord to which I told him you were sixteen, in shock and there was a murderer walking the streets! And he let you leave without stopping you?! Oh the nerve of some people!"

This was the longest I had heard Mariya talk, and it helped distract me. She then held me until Dad got home, who also hugged me and told me he was sorry to not have been there for me.

"You'll probably want one of dad's tablets tonight," Mariya said, "I bet you're tired now but you can't close your eyes without seeing Luka?"

"And Gumi," I whispered.

"What happened to her?" Mariya asked.

So I told her everything Kaito and Gackpo had told me, not leaving out anything. I even told her about the phone call last night and how out of character it had been for her.

"Oh baby," Mariya said as she wrapped me up in a warm hug, "today has been a very horrible day for you. I can't believe it. You couldn't write this shit!"

"Maybe I should take one of dad's tablets now," I whispered.

"I'll make you some ramen, line your stomach before I put you to bed. I'll stay here tonight and I'll wake up at five to give you the next tablet. You'll be out until about 11…"

"Can you bring me to school at quarter to five tomorrow?" I asked her and she looked curious, "I told this guy I like that I would meet him there at five."

"Young romance," Mariya said with a smile, "I'm staying home tomorrow so I can help you do your make-up and hair. Are you wearing your uniform?"

That started a conversation that only half ended when she gave me ramen. While I ate she suggested making my hair wavy with the hint of curls. She suggested I wear my uniform as it would make the guy more comfortable talking to someone familiar. She then said my make-up would be low key to show off my big eyes and smile. As I finished the ramen, dad walked out with a tablet and handed it to me with a glass of water.

"Sleep well, darling," he said as he kissed my forehead.

"Thanks Daddy," I whispered as I swallowed the tablet and gulped down water to get rid of the bad taste. Mariya smiled as she bundled me up and brought me to my room to sleep. She tucked me in and fluffed my pillows.

"See you about five," she whispered as she kissed my forehead.

I yawned and she smiled as I closed my eyes. Sleep took me and didn't let me go. I didn't dream, which was something I was grateful for. Tomorrow was the day everything would change, but whether for the good or bad was still uncertain. But as Kira had once said to me;

 ** _"_** ** _Whatever was meant to be, won't pass you, Yuki-chan."_**

Those words gave me hope for tomorrow…


	5. Friday 8th April 2016

**~ Friday 8th April 2016 ~**

 ****FINAL DAY****

My sister was right, I didn't wake up until she called me at five in the morning, to give me another tablet and some water. I was still half-asleep when she was talking to me, my head felt vacant without any worries about Yandere and my friends. For once, it was just me in my head.

"Go back to sleep, Yu-chan," Mariya whispered as she tucked me in that morning, "you'll need your energy for your adventure."

I think I nodded, but I'm not sure. No sooner had my head hit the pillow; that I was back under once more. But it wasn't scary, not in that room made of darkness. It was welcoming and warm, promised me safety. It reminded me of my mother's hugs, which backed up my theory of feeling safe. I was walking along a floor that was not water but acted like it, forming rings around the soles of my feet as I stepped.

I was wearing a white dress to my knees, almost like my pink nightdress I wore most nights. My hair was free around my shoulders, and it bounced as I moved. I stopped walking when the rings stopped forming, only to feel myself float up into the air. I lay down and was brought up a few feet, before I was looking at nothing. Something moved and I saw something mirroring me, a young girl with a single yellow ponytail. Her golden eyes were looking into my own and her smile was welcoming.

"Hi Yu-chan," the girl said, her eyes twinkled.

"Luka," I whispered, tears brimming on my eyelashes, "I miss you Luka."

"Of course you'd say that," she mumbled.

The darkness shifted and I closed my eyes, a breeze telling me things were changing. I wasn't sure if it was still my dream or something someone else had concocted. Once the breeze stopped, I opened my eyes. I was sitting on the stone wall of a fountain, the water pulsing from its centre. It was a clear crystal blue that reflected me back, and I saw wavy hair and big eyes. My lips were a cherry pink. I saw the top of my formal school uniform, the one we were told to wear for special occasions by our teachers.

I looked away from the fountain to see cherry blossom trees growing from the ground, before branching out and showing off their blossoms. A soft breeze tugged a few pink petals free and scattered them like confetti around me. Behind me was Academi High School, and its old promise of equality. I could see the lockers, and knew I would be able to pick mine out. I stepped away from the fountain and ventured around the school, glancing at the gym out of curiosity. How many times had Luka and I gone in there to talk? I walked on, not wanting to linger as I reached the cherry blossom.

This tree was at least forty years old, if not older. It was rumoured that the architect who built the school had found a sapling of a cherry blossom and planted it. But that was in the 1950s at least, so maybe the tree was in its sixties. I placed my hand on the bark, feeling the warmth the sun had given it today. There was a story about this tree, one the older years told the first years.

The story was that the architect planted the tree, and it grew. In 1976, a young couple were being chased by their families. They were star-crossed lovers and she was pregnant. They made it to the tree and the boy had told her, "tie your ribbon around a branch, and pray for us to find each other again." The story goes that she undid the ribbon in her hair and tied it on the tallest branch, praying for her love to be returned to her. A few days later, the families lost interest in the star crossed lovers, and they slipped away in the night. They were together from that moment onward. It was then said this tree was a hope tree, one young lovers pray to for their love to blossom.

As I looked up, I saw ribbons of all ages hanging off the branches, as I had for the last three years. Young love's promise. Kira had told me she and Hiro had tied a ribbon, and I could see her favourite green ribbon in the middle. I looked through those ribbons until my eyes found a familiar purple one, and I reached up to touch it. Hatsune had worn purple ribbon in her hair a few weeks ago, and come into class with her hair in a single ponytail. I had asked her about it.

"It must have been blown away," she had said as she sat down for lunch, blushing.

"Did she pray for love?" I asked the tree as I released her ribbon.

I went back towards the fountain, thinking I could sit the rest of my dream out there. I was stopped when I heard laughter, and I glanced up to see a shimmer of gold. I moved slowly, not wanting to break the illusion I hoped to see. But once I did see, I felt like crying.

Luka was sitting down where I had sat, laughing with Meiko as she held up an egg roll. Hatsune was breathless as she hunched over to catch some air. She must have been late and run from her house. Megumi was standing near Luka, her eyes on the food. She must have forgotten her breakfast, I thought to myself.

"Hey everyone!" Teto and Kira called out, "sorry we're late!"

"You walked?!" Hatsune demanded, "I ran here!"

"Oh right," Kira said, a smile forming on her lips, "I set your watch half an hour forward yesterday as a joke."

"You mean I was never late?!" Hatsune said as she dropped to her knees, "I didn't bring my lunch!"

"You can share with me," Meiko stated as she held out a small dish with the egg rolls.

"Thanks Mei-chan!" Hatsune said cheerfully.

"Hey Yu-chan, are you just going to gawk at us or come over and talk?" Teto asked and everyone looked over at me.

"Yu-chan?" Hatsune asked, "are you alright?"

"You look like you're crying, Yuki-chan," Kira whispered before dropping her satchel and walking over to me, "hey, come here."

Kira wrapped her arms around me and I looked over her shoulder at the others. I wrapped my arms around her waist and cried, dropping my eyes into her shoulder. She rubbed my back, not sure where this had come from. Someone else's arms encircled me and held me close, and one glance told me it was Teto.

"What happened, Yu-chan?" Teto whispered to me.

"I…I…" I tried to tell them "I thought you were all dead!" but the words wouldn't come out. I was scared I would break this dream's reality if I said those words.

"Hey, come on, tell us what's happening," Meiko said as I was guided over to the fountain.

"I'm sure we can help if you tell us," Hatsune whispered as she put a hand on my knee.

"I don't think this is something we can help her with," Luka said as she caught the trim of her skirt and began fiddling with it.

"What do you mean?" Meiko asked her, "a problem shared is a problem halved."

"We're not here, and you know it," Luka whispered as she looked to me, "we're alright you know."

"Why wouldn't we be?" Hatsune asked from her spot on the floor.

"Because we're not here anymore," Luka explained, "this is Yukiji's consciousness."

"So we're her dream?" Teto asked.

"God Yuki-chan, couldn't you dream something…I don't know…male?" Kira mumbled good-heartedly.

"We all know what you dream about Kira," Meiko said and we all laughed.

"We're okay, you know," Teto whispered when I looked up at her, "it's not so bad."

"We'll be hot forever!" Meiko chimed in as she held out some egg rolls to me, "so please don't cry."

"I'm alone now," I whispered.

"You're not going to be alone," Megumi pointed out, "you'll have all the guys, Mariya and your dad. You'll never be alone."

"There'll be no more girl days," I stated.

"When exactly was the last one? What…three or four months ago? I think we grew out of it before all the shit hit the fan."

"I'll miss having you to talk to," I mumbled.

"And we'll miss you, but we'll always be watching over you. Now, turn that frown upside down and go find Senpai. Tell him how you feel, and make this day something to remember. You can't stay here and wish for us to come back. You have to move on and I know you don't want to, but you have to. Now, pass the egg rolls," Luka said before grabbing a few, "go get your man!"

I was pushed to my feet where I staggered before regaining my balance. They cheered for me, telling me to move so I did, running towards the tree of hope. As I rounded the corner, I saw someone standing there. I ran forward and they turned, but with that, the dream ended without me seeing their face.

I opened my eyes, feeling the tears that had streamed down my cheeks. I put a hand up to my eyes and wiped them, knowing they were remnants of the dream. I sat up slowly and felt the blanket puddle around my waist, showing the familiar pink nightdress I wore. I glanced up and saw Mariya sitting in my desk chair, a book in her hands entitled "Teenagers dealing with grief," and she was flipping through it. She looked up as she turned the page and saw I was awake.

"Yu-chan," she said softly before putting the book down and walked over to me, "why are you crying?"

"I dreamt of my friends," I whispered as she took out her handkerchief and wiped my eyes, "and they wanted me to see the boy today."

"Of course you should!" Mariya said as she stopped wiping to smile at me, "this boy is finally going to meet the girl who loves him. You told him you were going to be there, right?"

"Yeah," I replied.

"Well, you're going to have to be there then," she said, "now come on, it's one in the afternoon. I'll heat up some ramen for you."

"Do you mind if…could I have egg rolls instead?"

"Sure," Mariya whispered as she got up to walk towards the kitchen, "mum's?"

"Yeah," I replied, "can you teach me the recipe sometime?"

"Sure thing, Yu-chan," she answered, "now, make some tea! Dad and I are thirsty!"

"What's Dad doing here?" I asked as I kicked the sheets away to follow her.

"He was worried about you," Mariya replied, "thought he'd stay home today. He has the weekend off anyway so I was thinking we could go on a car trip maybe."

"Sounds like a great idea," I said as I went to make tea.

Mum had made the best egg rolls when I was a child. She had added some spice to it, she told me, and had also said she would teach me when I was older. Mariya had learned while Mum was still well enough, because Mariya took over greeting duty. Instead, as I made tea, Mariya taught me. Once the tea was made and served, she caught my hand and showed me how to make them. The first batch were burnt, and inedible (though I tried to say they were only cooked well).

"How do they taste then?" Mariya had asked, her arms crossed as she smirked, "if they are _cooked well,_ eat one."

"Maybe later," I had said, seeing the smoky mess.

"Coward," she muttered before allowing me another chance.

This one was better, and edible. The latter was always a plus as I ate the food. It wasn't exactly like mum's, but there was something there.

"I'll make you a picnic for today," Mariya said as she made more egg rolls, ramen and sandwiches, "you can eat it with him. This can be eaten cold but I'll heat it before we leave. Let me do the basics and then I'll start on you."

"Me?" I questioned as she started working.

"Yes, Yu-chan. You're not going to see this guy looking like a baby."

"But this nightdress…" I whispered as I pulled a little.

"Is a nightdress. Now, what are you wearing today?"

I thought back to my dream, and remembered the formal uniform.

"The formal uniform," I replied as I ate the rest of my breakfast.

"Sounds good," Mariya replied as she turned to look at me, "go for a shower first. I can't work miracles on you right now."

"That's just your way of saying I stink," I mumbled as I put my dish in the sink.

"You can use the rose wash I brought down from Raku's," Mariya said softly.

"Thanks," I whispered as I ran to the bathroom.

The shower was pleasant, and the rose wash reminded me of dog roses. I used my Panda Bear shampoo which smelled like strawberries and then once that was all done, I stepped out into the steam. I was as pristine as I was going to get as I walked over to the sink and the mirror.

"Don't dry your hair with a towel, Yukiji," Mariya said as she passed the bathroom door, "I know you were thinking about it."

"How the hell?" I demanded, looking at the towel I had raised to do just that.

"I'm a psychic," she shouted back.

I sighed before stepping out of the bathroom. Mariya was in her room, and all of her stuff was in there with her. She beckoned me in and sat me down on her bed.

"Now, what colour nails do you want?" she asked me.

"Do you have pink?" I asked her.

"You're in luck," she answered and found a new bottle of baby pink.

She did my fingers and my toes until they were a shimmering pink. She then found nail stickers with pandas on them and stuck those on, thinking it added to my "kawaii" factor, whatever that meant. She rubbed my hands with some sort of lotion and then my face was wiped with moisturiser.

"I think you're trying to make me look like you!" I muttered.

"Is that such a bad thing?" she asked.

I didn't get a chance to answer as she applied make-up and my lips were done in cherry pink. My ears were given her favourite diamond studs and then I was helped into my formal uniform. It consisted of the school skirt, a waistcoat, a blazer, a red bow around my throat that was allowed to hang lower and a white shirt. I located my black socks that went a little above my knee and Mariya found my formal shoes. She left those by the door before doing my hair.

"Hey Mari-chan," I whispered as she tied some hair up, "do you mind if you put a ribbon around the bobbin?"

"Em…sure," she answered as she located my white ribbon, "is this alright?"

"Yeah, perfect," I replied as she tied it in.

Well, once the hair was done, I was put in front of the mirror to look at my reflection. I didn't look like me, but I liked what I saw. I only hoped Senpai would too.

"You'll do fine, Yu-chan," Mariya whispered as she put her hands on my shoulders so we both appeared in the reflection, "he'll notice."

"You think?" I asked her.

"He'd be a fool not to," Mariya whispered as she kissed my cheek, "now, it's half four and I have food to put on. Go see Dad and I'll fetch you at quarter to."

"Thanks Mariya," I said as she stepped away.

"Mum would have done the same," she said as she walked to the door, "she'd be proud of you, you know. Of everything you've accomplished to date. She knew you were destined for big things, and Dad and I believe her. So make her proud today."

"I will," I said as I left Mariya's room and went to our sitting room.

Dad was kneeling in front of a picture of Mum, her smile welcoming as the incense swayed. He put a kiss to her face before standing, dusted his knees and turned towards the door.

"Hi Dad," I said to him as he looked at me.

"Is that you, Yukiji?" he asked as he walked towards me, "you look beautiful…not that you weren't always beautiful…"

"Good save Dad," Mariya called out as I blushed.

"And this is for a boy?" he asked and I nodded, "well, he must be something special."

"He is, Dad," I whispered.

Dad gave me an awkward hug, as he didn't want to wrinkle my uniform and ruin my make-up. Mariya came to fetch me as Dad walked over to the TV. He found a small box and walked back to us.

"Here," he said as he held out the box to me, "I think you should have this."

I opened the box and saw a small charm bracelet within. Mum had worn this for years as a teenager, adding charms that her parents, friends and Dad bought her.

"Maybe," he said as he fastened it around my wrist, "you can add charms to it."

"Thanks Dad," I whispered as I hugged him tight, "thanks for being there for me when I needed you most."

"I always will be, Yukiji, now and forever," he said as he put his head on mine, "I hope you know that."

"Yu-chan, if you want to be there on time, I suggest you leave now," Mariya said.

"Thanks Dad," I repeated.

"Good luck," he called as I put on my shoes and ran out to Mariya's car.

The drive was quick, and we were at the school at ten to. Mariya parked in the teachers' lot and turned to me.

"Good luck, little sister," she whispered as she held out the small picnic basket, "and wrap your ribbon tight, you don't want your hope flying away."

"Thanks Mariya…for everything," I whispered.

"No problem. I'll be here for the next hour so come back if he doesn't show…or scream if something goes…wrong…okay?"

"Will do," I replied.

I knew she was talking about the murderer, and I was thinking of Yandere. I had a feeling the two of them were linked but there was nothing I could do about it. I got out of the car and walked slowly. The cherry blossoms were beautiful, like in my dream as I walked between them. Some petals snagged my hair but I took them out without undoing Mariya's work. I walked to the gym and took a left, towards the cherry blossom. It was there I saw all the ribbons girls had put through it, hoping for a future with the love of their life. Hatsune had put one up there, as had Kira. Mariya might have, but hers may have blown away. I remember one boyfriend before Raku being mean to her. Maybe she wanted me to be aware of it. Dad had once told me that Mum had tied a ribbon here as well, before Mariya was born.

I looked to my watch, and saw it was nearly five. Please let him show…please…please…

(Yandere POV)

I closed my locker, seeing the notes that bitch had left him in his locker. Couldn't she understand he was mine? I switched my shoes and looked back towards the stairs, seeing that girl group talking as if they were still there. It had been easy to pick them apart, and the last two hadn't been much of a problem. I mean seriously, they did the work themselves. What was that girl's name? Was it Gami? No…that wasn't right…Gemi?

I shook my head. It didn't matter anymore, she wouldn't be bothering me anymore with her too cheerful smile. Her and that other one…Luka. That was her name, and she had called me crazy. I clenched my hands into a fist, and took a deep breath. I didn't need to get worked up, Senpai was mine. There was no other girl in year 3, I had taken care of them all. It had been too easy actually…and that was surprising in itself.

"Hey Senpai, you walking home?" some guy with green hair asked.

"No Aki," Senpai answered, "I'm meeting the girl I was telling you about."

"That admirer?" a boy with red hair asked.

"Yeah, she said she'd meet me at the cherry blossoms behind the school today," he said with a smile.

"Is there anyone left?" a boy with purple hair asked, "I mean, are you sure it's even our year?"

"I can go see," Senpai replied, "what's the harm?"

"There's a murderer walking around," the blue haired boy stated plainly, "and you're walking alone?"

Oh, Senpai had no need to worry about the murderer. I mean, why would I harm the one I loved with all of my heart? That would be counter-productive.

"Good luck anyway," a guy with yellow hair said.

"Thanks," Senpai said as he glanced at his watch, "its five now. She might be waiting already."

"You want backup in case this is some stalker deal?" the purple haired guy said.

"Nah, I'll take my chances," Senpai said as he lifted his satchel, "talk to you all Monday."

A chorus of goodbyes echoed as he left. I followed behind a few feet, my heart racing in my chest. Wow, this is what it felt like to be in love. I'd tell Senpai I loved him, we'd talk under that stupid hope tree and tie a ribbon. Wasn't that what Hatsune was always muttering about from the basement these days?

"That girl will tie that fecking ribbon! And he'll be hers forever! Mark my words you psycho bitch!" Hatsune had snapped just this morning when I had told her what I had to do.

Now that I think about it, wasn't she the last surviving girl? I couldn't really remember any others off the top of my head. Well, it didn't matter now. Senpai would see no one standing under that tree, he'll wait and nothing would happen. He would then walk home and maybe I'd bump into him and we'd talk. I think I could manage to say more than "hi" like a tweety bird today.

He took to his left when he left the school building, heading towards the gym. His upset was only getting closer, and it made it all feel worthwhile. I didn't wish him any pain, but I wanted him to know I was the only girl for him. He looked at the gym before taking another left. The cherry blossom tree would take a few metres to see fully, and the fact it would be vacant would also become apparent.

I stepped into the shadows and made my way slowly behind Senpai, knowing he was worried about no one being there. Well…it only helped me…what the?

There, under the cherry blossoms, was a girl. Her hair was wavy and had caught some of the petals off the flowers. She was wearing the formal uniform, her arms outstretched and holding a basket. A ribbon fluttered around a bobbin as she looked down at her feet.

"Yukiji," Senpai said, which got the girl to look up.

It was indeed the class rep. She had been out all week! I was certain it couldn't have been her! And yet, here she stood with a stupid ribbon in her hair!

"Oh hi," she said as Senpai stood about ten metres from her, "I hope this wasn't too much of a surprise."

"Yukiji," Senpai repeated as he dropped his bag and moved closer, "I never thought it would be you."

"A lot of people said that," she replied.

"And you're…the girl who wrote the notes?" he asked and she nodded, "wow."

"I really couldn't tell you on a piece of paper how I felt. I wanted to tell you face to face, and hoped you would be here. I'm glad you came to meet me."

"So…you like me?" he asked.

"Yes," she replied, her face aglow in the setting sunlight, "I've liked you since you helped me when I got lost. You helped me get gum out of my hair once that Aki put in it by…"

"Cutting it with safety scissors," he said and the pair laughed, "it looked horrible."

"Dad thought someone had hacked my hair," she laughed.

"Well, I kinda did," he replied and she stopped laughing to smile.

"Do you want to try this?" she asked him gently, "I don't mind if you say no, I mean, this is all rushed and I can understand with the week that it's been if you don't want to-"

He cut her off with a kiss. Her hands were locked around the basket before she dropped it between them. His arms wrapped around her waist and she held his face carefully. When they pulled apart, there was something there. What the hell was she playing at? Kissing my Senpai?!

"Wow," she said softly.

"I would like to try this, Yu-chan," he said to her, "and I want to try this with you."

"Thank you, Senpai," she said and they kissed once more, this one deeper than the other.

They separated and went to work assembling the picnic. It looked nice, something I hadn't considered someone making for a first meal. Yukiji stood at one point as did Senpai. She turned her back to him, and he raised his hands to undo the ribbon in her hair.

"No," I begged.

"You want to tie this to the tree?" Yukiji asked Senpai, "to pray for us?"

"I think most people do," he replied as he wrapped it around a branch that had a few more flowers than the others, "I think the pair have to hold it as it's tied."

She held on and helped him tie that white ribbon around the branch tight. Yukiji then stood on her toes before Senpai held her up.

"Kiss it for good luck?" he asked her.

With a soft giggle, she kissed the ribbon and he set her down. They ate the rest of their picnic before packing up. I heard their plans for the funeral, but I couldn't make myself move to follow them. So this was what it felt like to have your heart broken? And to think, before he saw her, I was certain I had killed my rival. I had been so sure…

 ** _"That girl will tie that fecking ribbon! And he'll be hers forever! Mark my words you psycho bitch!"_**

Hatsune's words echoed in my head as I watched the couple leave.

"I can never confess my feelings to Senpai now…" I whispered as I realised that I was…

 **Heartbroken**

The End

 **Hi everyone, thanks for reading this story. It was fun to write and I hope you liked my OC Yukiji :) This story was based on a game called Yandere Simulator which is only 5% completed at the moment. Here's a link in case you want to check it out :) (Put in dots . after the words)**

 **www yanderedev files wordpress com**

 **Let me know what you think and please leave a review. If you have any questions, just PM me and I'll try to answer them :) Talk to you all soon :)**


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